Kaede woke up and went about her usual morning routine. She did note something odd, which was that Midoriko was not up, which meant that she was not going to have a great cooked breakfast. She had no problem with eating cold cereal, although she liked pancakes more. She got ready for school and was about to leave, but she noticed that Midoriko was still not up. It was strange that her big sister was not up because they usually left the apartment together. She figured that she should at least see if Midoriko was going to work and check to see if anything was wrong. She went to Midoriko's room door and opened it without knocking; it was just the way they did things in the apartment.

"Hey, Mi—Whoa!" Kaede said under her breath, praying that it was not too loud. Her prayers did not seem to be answered because the occupant of the room woke up and it was not her sister. The person was the reason for her outburst.

"You must be Kaede," Abi commented in a low voice when she caught sight of the teen in the doorway. She was laying the bed, curled up with Midoriko, who was still sleeping.

"And you must be Abi," the girl replied, not sure what else she should say or if she should say anything else. At least she did not sound disgusted or nervous, the demon noted. She did look a bit confused, which was mostly due to the fact that she had not expected to see the princess in bed with her sister.

"That I am. I don't think I was supposed to meet you, at least not like this," the bird demon remarked while glancing down at her snoozing lover. She was pretty sure that Midoriko would want her to meet her little sister in a proper fashion.

"You're probably right. So, I'm just going to back out of the room and erase this from my memory," Kaede quipped, even though she had not witnessed anything truly scarring.

"Killer plan," Abi concurred, going so far as to give the teen a thumbs' up.

Kaede did as she said, quietly backing out of the room and closing the door as she did so. Abi turned her attention to Midoriko since she was up and she could just admire her lover in her sleep. Looking down at the pale lawyer caused the princess to smile softly. She was so thankful that the human had given her a second chance. She was going to try her best not to blow it a second time.

There was the issue of what was going to happen when her mother found out that she was with a human. She decided not to worry about that at the moment. The only thing that mattered right now was that she was with Midoriko.

"Yeah, you're certainly all that matters, precious," Abi whispered as she wrapped her arms around the sleeping body next to her. She pulled Midoriko close to her, which woke up the human female.

"Morning," Midoriko greeted her lover in a low voice.

"Morning to you," Abi replied while leaning in for a kiss, which she promptly got. It certainly helped make things a good morning for the bird demon.

"What time is it?" Midoriko asked curiously as she pulled away from her lover's mouth. She noted that her alarm had not gone off.

"I don't know," the bird demon answered honestly. She really could care less about the time. "I did hear someone leave earlier. I'm guessing it was your little sister," she commented.

"Then I'm late for work," Midoriko realized and she was about to hop up from bed, but she stopped herself. She was finally with Abi again and she was going to leave for work? That would be stupid, her brain pointed out.

"You're actually going to leave me, precious?" Abi inquired with an exaggerated pout and she then ran her leg up and down Midoriko's calf. She honestly wanted her precious little human to stay right where she was all day long.

"On second thought, no," Midoriko replied, especially not if the petting under the covers were going to continue.

Abi practically grinned. "All day in bed?" she asked, perhaps wishing out loud.

"Well, all morning," the human conceded. She doubted that it was plausible for her to stay in bed all day, even if she was lying with her wonderful princess.

"It'll do for now," Abi replied and embraced Midoriko while leaning in for another, deeper kiss. It felt too good to be back with her precious little human.

--------------

The phone ringing startled Midoriko and Abi, who were still in bed. The bird demon looked around, almost in a panic, wondering what the hell that horrible noise was while Midoriko knew to reach for the phone. She was not sure what possessed Kaede the day that she changed the rings on the house phones, but she had to remember to change them back.

"That's your telephone making that disgusting noise?" Abi asked in disbelief. It had caused her to almost jump out of her skin; sometimes her spectacular hearing was such a curse.

Midoriko nodded and then she answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, big sister," Kikyo greeted the lawyer.

"Hey, Kikyo. What made you call the house?" the elder sister asked curiously.

"You have your cell phone turned off and I called your office only to find out that you called in sick. Are you feeling all right?" the younger sister asked with concern in her voice. She hoped that nothing happened with Midoriko, feeling that her big sister had gone through enough.

"I'm perfectly fine," Midoriko assured the doctor.

"Then why'd you call in sick?" Kikyo inquired, sounding slightly confused, which meant that she was very bewildered because it had actually sneaked into her tone.

"Um…I have company," Midoriko admitted in a bit of a shy, almost embarrassed tone. Abi thought her lover looked so cute when she was embarrassed and that thought caused her to lean over to give Midoriko a peck on the lips.

"Company?" Kikyo echoed, still rather puzzled, but then it came to her. "Female company?"

"Yes."

"Would this female company happen to be a bird demon princess?" Kikyo asked rather curiously.

"Yes."

Kikyo was quiet for a moment, which Midoriko was not sure what to make of. Kikyo was just nodding to herself. She knew that Abi would do the right thing, but she did not think that she would do it so quickly. She thought that it might take the princess at least a few days to sit on the information.

"Are you happy then, sister?" Kikyo asked.

"Very," Midoriko admitted with a smile.

"That's good. Then enjoy your day with her. Should I call Kaede and tell her to stay with us?" the middle sister asked.

"Um…I don't know. Maybe she should meet Abi," Midoriko replied.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea. Are you sure you're ready for that? It does say a lot that you want her to meet your little sister."

"She already met you," Midoriko pointed out.

"Speaking of meeting me, free up your weekend."

"Why would I be doing that?"

"Engagement announcement. Sesshomaru wants to inform the families all at once. He won't say it, but I think he wants to do that to avoid angering his parents by having one find out before the other," Kikyo explained. She could just imagine what would happen to her beloved if one of his parents knew about the engagement before the other. He would probably have to go into hiding and never come out.

"Sounds like a safe plan. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there. I'll also try my best to make sure your baby sister doesn't bring skates to the affair," Midoriko stated.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Kikyo commented.

"I'm sure it would be."

"All right, well, I'm going to let you get back to your company," the middle sister said.

Midoriko was thankful that Kikyo was not a smart-aleck and she did not have to suffer some remark with that farewell. They disconnected the call and Midoriko turned her attention back to Abi. The princess smiled.

"Are you going to be here on the weekend?" Midoriko inquired.

"I'd like to be here for as long as I can, which is however long you'll have me," Abi replied. She had no time limit on her stay since she had come on her own, not with permission from her mother.

"What about your job?"

"Well, by the time my mother finds out what I'm doing, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be fired, so I won't have a job to worry about," Abi answered and she was being serious, but she was smiling. She did not care about the job; as long as her mother did not kill her when she found out what was going on, everything was fine by her. She just wanted to be able to stay with her precious human.

"Well, how about this weekend you be my date for an engagement announcement?" Midoriko proposed nonchalantly.

"Your date?" Abi was surprised to hear such a word from her lover, not just the word, but also her casual tone about things.

"She's marrying dog-boy?" Abi inquired incredulously; her expression matched her tone. Apparently, she really could not believe that one. "Your sister is a strong female to be willing to put up with that for the rest of her life."

"He'll be good to her, like he has been."

"Oh, so you approve?" the princess asked, still in disbelief.

"I'm the one that talked her into accepting the proposal," Midoriko admitted with a little shrug. She honestly believed that Sesshomaru would take the best care of her sister. It was strange to think, but it was the truth as far as she was concerned.

"Really? That is shocking. You sisters really take care of each other, huh?" Abi noted. Between Kikyo's visit to her and Midoriko's approval of Sesshomaru, it would seem that the sisters did have each others' backs and wanted the others to be happy. Even the way that Kaede did not freak out over seeing them in bed together attested to the fact that the sisters wanted each other to be happy in the bird demon's opinion.

"We try our best."

"Well, I'm glad I'm on your side then. Are you sure you want to take me there as your date, though?" Abi asked curiously. She knew that Kikyo knew about her and Midoriko and well, Kaede knew too now, but surely she had more family that she probably did not want to know about them.

"Of course I'm sure. My sisters don't mind, Sesshomaru doesn't care, and the rest of my family, if they're there, they'll just have to deal with it," Midoriko answered and she meant that. She had had to deal with life without the princess and she did not like that, so she was not about to lose Abi because her family would not be able to deal with the fact that she was a lesbian. Her sisters accepted things and that was good enough for her. She was with Abi, end of statement.

Abi smiled. It was nice to know that Midoriko was not ashamed of their relationship or looking to hide it. It was also great that Midoriko was with her, even though she was pretty sure that her mother was going to destroy both of them, yet Midoriko was still sticking with her.

"I think I love you too," Midoriko replied in earnest. Sure, they were not out and out declarations of love, but they would do for the moment.

----(New day)

Sesshomaru frowned, almost as if he was not happy, as he stood in the rented room of a classy restaurant. Kikyo was standing by his side; they were both dressed formally. He was in a white suit as was she; it sometimes amused him how she refused to wear dresses most of the time. They were greeting their guests as they came in; mostly everyone that they had invited was there already. Sesshomaru's parents had not shown up yet, though. She noticed Sesshomaru's face and wondered just what his seemingly foul mood was directed toward.

"Why do you look do upset, sweetheart?" Kikyo inquired, taking his hand with hers in order to relax him somewhat.

"I'm not upset," he replied, his face tense and he did not even grace her with a glance.

"Then why are you looking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you have a dentist appointment to have all of your teeth pulled," she commented.

"Oh, how I wish I had such an excuse," he grumbled. He was starting to wonder what he was thinking in having such a gathering.

"Then what's the problem?"

"I have to deal with my mother tonight," he pointed out. He actually sounded exhausted just thinking about that demon woman.

Kikyo only smiled a bit. She had met Sesshomaru's mother a couple of times and did not see the problem with the dog demoness. Well, she did not have a problem with the demoness anyway. But, she knew his problem with his mother, which would be the fact that his mother seemed to get a huge thrill out of teasing him. He, of course, did not appreciate the extremely playful side that she had when it came to him.

"Are you talking about me already?" a voice asked from behind the couple; it was practically a chirp.

The couple turned around with shocked expressions on their faces, but they quickly recovered. They did wonder how the hell she got behind them without alerting them in anyway. She was just too full of irksome surprises in Sesshomaru's opinion.

"They do say speak of the devil and she shall appear," Sesshomaru remarked in dry tone as he faced his mother.

"I'll remember you said that if I happen to have a friend that needs escorting around the city," his mother retorted without missing a beat. She even had a cruel smile on her face as she spoke.

"Father told you about that, did he?" Sesshomaru inquired in his usual tone, although he was not pleased to find out that his mother was aware of his horrible job escorting around Abi. After all, she might actually think to use him in such a manner one day.

"Said you did an excellent job and I should definitely recommend you, especially since Kikyo is so understanding of such things." She continued to smile like the devil her son claimed she was.

Sesshomaru made a sound low in his throat, sort of like a snort and a growl that got mixed together. It seemed that he was not happy with that idea and it did not help that his mother smiled as she spoke. There was also the fact that he knew that his love was not comfortable with the idea of him escorting anyone else around the city. His mother decided to leave him be and walked off to mingle with the other guests. Sesshomaru watched her walk away and then turned his attention back to the front, wondering where in the hell his father and stepmother were.

"My father is typically never late," Sesshomaru commented under his breath.

"Calm down, Sessho. He's not very late. Only ten minutes," Kikyo pointed out. He was stressing much too much in her opinion. Everything was going to go fine, or so she hoped.

"I know, but it's still strange."

Kikyo did not respond; she thought that her beloved was just tense because of the news that they had and she was mostly right about that. A few seconds later, Sesshomaru's father and stepmother appeared; they thankfully did not sneak up behind the couple like his mother had done. The couples greeted each other and then went into the room with everyone else.

"You invited your mother?" Sesshomaru's father inquired before he even caught sight of the demoness. He could smell her, though.

"With luck, Rin's cuteness will distract her," Sesshomaru commented.

"Sounds promising," his father said in agreement.

Sesshomaru nodded and when they focused on everyone in the room, they saw that things were going as hoped. They both breathed sighs of relief when they saw Rin and Kaede distracting the dog demoness, who seemed to think that peculiar human girls were just about the most adorable things on the planet. Sesshomaru and his father hoped that things stayed that way; Sesshomaru wanted that because he did not want to hear his mother's mouth and his father wanted that because Sesshomaru's mother had a bad habit of flirting with him, even in front of his wife's face. Now, they were friends and everything, but she took things too far and even though it was all in jest, it was still annoying.

Sesshomaru and Kikyo mingled a bit instead of just announcing the point of the gathering. Kikyo was happy to see that Midoriko had shown up with Abi and that they were getting along. No one from their family seemed to be bothered by the couple, but then again, they probably did not know they were a couple. She doubted that Midoriko had introduced Abi around as her girlfriend; she was very right about that.

But, Midoriko had introduced Abi to her aunt and her cousins, Kagome and Souta. Abi seemed rather freaked out when she met Kagome because she noticed what the rest of the world noticed, which was that Kagome and Kikyo looked almost exactly alike. It was then that Midoriko had to explain that their mothers had been twin sisters and it would seem that their genes were strong. Abi agreed with that assessment from what she could see.

Midoriko's family was very polite to Abi. Kagome did excuse herself after a few minutes of meeting the princess to go yell at Inuyasha from what they could tell, even though she did not use those exact words. She actually just thought that he was eating too much from a snack table that was pleased out and she wanted to inform him that he needed to be more civil about it, but since he was hardheaded and did not want to listen, she let her temper get the better of her, as usual.

Midoriko then went to go keep an eye on Kaede and found the teen busy telling Sesshomaru's mother about a trick that she and Rin did and they both pretty much split their foreheads open. Abi was almost certain that both teens were out of their minds as they told the tale with grins on their faces. Sesshomaru's mother looked thoroughly amused by the story and the enthusiasm of the girls.

"Then when we landed, it was really creepy," Kaede said to set up the finish of the story.

"Because we both landed wrong on the same foot and turned our ankles really badly, which was why we fell onto the guardrail and banged our heads," Rin explained.

"But, when our ankles healed, we did it again," Kaede added with a smile.

"You two are quite the athletes," Sesshomaru's mother commented brightly and then she noticed Midoriko and Abi standing there. She craned a curious eyebrow. "Shocking to see a bird demon amongst us, but I'm starting to see that being with humans is all rage," the dog demoness remarked.

Abi seemed a bit stunned and it was not the comment that made it so, although that was creepy too. She just had not anticipated Sesshomaru's mother being there. She knew that Sesshomaru got his smart mouth from the dog demoness, but unlike Sesshomaru, his mother knew no restraint and was rather good at being a smartass.

"You must be Kikyo's older sister. She's told me much about you. I'm guessing that Kaede is the lunatic of the family," the dog demoness commented, speaking to Midoriko.

"She thinks every human that owns a pair of skates is a lunatic," Rin whispered to Kaede, even though she knew that the silver-haired female would hear her.

"No, just you two," Sesshomaru's mother replied with an amused glint in her eyes.

Rin just made a face, which did not bother Sesshomaru's mother. Rin could practically get away with anything around Sesshomaru's mother, as long as it was done in jest; it was things like that that made her just adore Sesshomaru's mother. In fact, Rin had spent a few summers with Sesshomaru's mother; that was how much they seemed to like each other.

"I vote a celebration to take us off punishment," Rin said with hope in her voice.

"Oh, I like that idea," Kaede concurred with a smile.

"You two are wishing for the impossible right now. Punishment won't end until the school term is over," Midoriko informed them.

"This is so wrong," Rin and Kaede groaned simultaneously.

"Those grades were worse," Midoriko remarked quite seriously, holding her arms across her chest for a moment.

"I see where Kikyo gets her attitude from. I like you. Abi, keep this one," Sesshomaru's mother stated.

Abi made a face as if the dog demoness stepped on her foot with a spiked boot. It was just that the dog demoness was so casual about her words and yet commanding with them as well. Before Abi could say anything, Sesshomaru and Kikyo called their guests' attentions to the front of the room. Everyone did turn their attention to the couple.

"All right, everyone is probably curious as to why we called you here," Sesshomaru said and then he turned his attention to the door, as did all of the other people with demon blood in the room as well as those that could sense presences. "I get the feeling that this is going to be annoying, beloved," he whispered to Kikyo.

"What isn't when we all come together?" Kikyo replied.

"Oh, god," Abi muttered. "Where are the exits?" she wondered aloud.

"ABI!" a voice shrieked from outside. It was an ear-splitting cry that hurt the ears of all of the demons and a certain half-demon.

"Your mother?" Midoriko guessed, speaking to her date.

"Fuck yeah," Abi replied as the doors to the room burst open, revealing an ebony-haired female that looked very much like Abi. The princess actually hid behind Midoriko, who glanced back at her lover in disbelief.

Everyone stared at the female that just joined them. The demons in the room knew who she was and they could guess why she was there. Still, they were not happy to see her, especially Sesshomaru. After all, Abi's mother was interfering with his big announcement with Kikyo.

"Abi, get over here," the bird demoness commanded as she stepped into the room. She stared directly at the princess, who was still behind Midoriko. "Now," she added when Abi did not move. There was a very dangerous edge in her voice that everyone picked up on.

"Um…Mother…I…I…" Abi tried to stand up for herself, but damn it, her mother scared the hell out of her. She had never really angered her mother before and she thought that she had picked one hell of time and reason to start pissing her mother off. It was going to take at least a few minutes for her courage to even think to return to her.

"She's not leaving," Kikyo stated soundly since the princess seemed to be tongue-tied.

"Quiet, human," the bird leader ordered in a fury. It seemed like any second now the flames of Hell would blaze around her.

"You're not going to come in here and talk to Kikyo that way," Sesshomaru stated as he began approaching the uninvited guest.

"Wait, Sesshomaru," Abi said.

"What?" he inquired in an annoyed voice.

"Out of everybody in this room, I can't let you stand up for me," Abi replied. She would never be able to look herself in the mirror again. Yet, she was not moving from behind Midoriko.

"I'm not," he simply informed her. He was not standing up for the irksome bird demon, but for his angel. He was not going to let anyone, whoever the person was, disrespect the woman that he was going to marry.

"Abi, you get over here now. We're going home," her mother said firmly. She was not to be argued with on the matter.

"She's not leaving," Kikyo repeated as she moved and stood by Sesshomaru.

"Pathetic human, you won't tell me what to do with my own daughter," the bird leader growled while stepping in front of Kikyo.

Kikyo looked at the bird demon without fear in her chocolate eyes. The confrontational demon frowned and raised her hand, as if she planned to strike Kikyo. Kikyo did not appear frightened then and she did not move. Sesshomaru caught the bird demon's hand as she was about to bring it down on his beloved.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that," Sesshomaru commented coolly.

"Horrible fucking idea to try to hit Kikyo in front of all of her friends and family," Inuyasha remarked as he stepped over. Midoriko followed his lead, much to Abi's dismay because she had to go with her hiding place.

"Unhand me," Abi's mother commanded.

"Listen carefully, Abi's not leaving, but you are. You're interrupting a rather important event and it's not amusing," Sesshomaru informed her.

"Unhand me."

"Or else what?" Sesshomaru inquired in a daring tone. It was unlikely that she would try anything against him, not just because he was Sesshomaru, but his parents were right there and his crazy brother was there too. She knew that she was outnumbered and that was not even counting the fact that Kikyo, Midoriko, and Kagome had spiritual powers.

"Abi," her mother called her.

Midoriko glanced back at Abi, who was still behind her. She was not cowering or anything, but she did not look ready to stand up to her mother. She had her hand on Midoriko's shoulder, so Midoriko reached up and took Abi's hand.

"It's your decision, Abi. Where do you want to be?" Midoriko asked in a gentle and understanding tone.

Abi gulped. She stared at her mother, who was still being held by Sesshomaru. Her bottom lip began to tremble as her mother seemed to glare daggers at her soul and severed her courage completely from her being. Her heart beat so quickly from anxiety that it felt like it was going to explode any moment. And then she looked at Midoriko.

"Mother…" Abi said and then she stood up properly. "I want to stay with Midoriko. I…I… well, I really like her," she confessed in a stronger voice than she expected, but it was still a shaky tone. It was good enough for her to just have gotten the words out, though.

"You really like this pitiful, filthy human?" her mother said in a complete outrage. She had never heard such nonsense from anyone in her clan and she damn sure would not stand for hearing it from her own daughter.

"She's not pitiful or filthy and she's my human," Abi replied with pride. She damn sure was not going to let anyone, even her own mother insult her precious Midoriko.

Her mother snarled in pure fury and moved, as if she was going to attack either Midoriko or Abi; it was hard to tell since they were right next to each other. Sesshomaru tightened his grip on the woman and held her at bay while Midoriko and Abi were trying to step in front of the other to protect each other. The bird leader shrieked an ear-splitting noise, much higher pitch than earlier, which hurt the ears of everyone in the room, especially the dog demons. Sesshomaru's grip slipped just enough for Abi's mother to break free.

"Curse these ears," all of the dog demons muttered while shaking their heads, hoping that would make the high pitch noise stop. They were going to be deaf for a few minutes and they knew that, but they hoped that the noise buzzing in their ears would dispel soon.

Abi's mother went straight for Midoriko, tackling her to the ground and planning to tear the lawyer to pieces for stealing away her daughter. Midoriko was shocked by the hit and did not think to act immediately because of how stunned she was. Kaede and Rin did react to the assault and they jumped on Abi's mother with the gope of getting the bird demon off of Midoriko. She quickly flung the teens from her person with great ease and turned her attention back to Midoriko, who was no longer in a stupor and she moved to grab the bird demon.

Kikyo was about to go assist her big sister, but she saw Midoriko had a grip on the infuriated bird demon. The doctor knew what was coming and she really doubted that Abi wanted her mother killed, so she did not move from where she was and did not add to what was coming. Midoriko released a shocking douse of spiritual energy into Abi's mother to get the bird demon off of her; had Kikyo joined in, it would have been enough spiritual energy to ruin the night completely because slaying a guest, even an uninvited one, was never good for a party. Midoriko quickly shot to her feet when she was done with her counterattack, keeping her eyes on her attacker as she fell back to the floor from the agony that Midoriko had just placed in her.

"Spiritual energy?" Abi's mother said in disbelief as smoke came from her body and she kneeled on the ground with the hope of gathering herself again. She was not going to give up so easily, even if she was in serious pain. "Not just any human, but a priestess?" she screamed at her daughter.

"There's more of that all around," Kagome declared since the bird demon did not seem to be down for the count and ready to keep on causing trouble.

"Much more," Kikyo concurred.

"What are they talking about?" Inuyasha shouted at his brother while pointing at the humans in the room.

"What?" Sesshomaru replied. And then he asked himself why he was even bothering with humoring Inuyasha? Inuyasha was just as deaf as he was at the moment.

"Mother, just go," Abi pled. She did not want to see her mother get hurt over her decision, but she was not going to leave with the older demon either. She was where she wanted to be, where she needed to be. That was not going to change and she wished that her mother just accepted that.

"You would choose these humans over me?" her mother demanded heatedly from her space on the floor. Part of her was hurt, but it was buried underneath all of the anger that she was feeling at the moment toward her foolish daughter and everyone else in the room.

"I don't want to choose. You're making me. Couldn't you just accept this?" Abi requested/pled. If only her mother could understand and accept it then everything would be fine because she had to stay with Midoriko.

"I refuse! I won't approve of you being with disgusting humans. If you stay here, you're not my daughter anymore. You're dead to me," her mother replied seriously, like her statement was set in stone.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha shouted at Sesshomaru, who only rolled his eyes. Inuyasha wanted to know what was going on because no one was attacking anyone anymore, but Abi's mother still looked rather cross.

"Mother, please," Abi begged in a sorrowful tone. Despite it all, she did love her mother and she would rather not lose the demoness because she had strong feelings for a human.

"Stay with your pathetic humans then," her mother replied in a hiss and she gracefully climbed to her feet despite the throbbing agony that she was in. She then turned calmly, exiting the room. She was not looking to feel the wrath of any more priestesses, especially if Midoriko had more power than she just exhibited. Besides, she was fairly certain that her always-loyal daughter would come to her senses soon and return to her. They had a strong mother/daughter bond after all.

"What the hell just happened!" Inuyasha begged to know.

"Will you stop talking! We can't hear you!" Sesshomaru hollered at his brother while motioning to his parents. Everyone then looked at Sesshomaru, who realized that he had just raised his voice around people that could hear him.

"What!" Inuyasha screamed, putting his hand to his ear.

Sesshomaru made an exasperated face, which caused his mother to laugh. Sesshomaru noticed his mother's expression and knew that she was laughing at him. He sighed, but his disposition changed as Kikyo attached herself to his arm. Once Sesshomaru and the other dog demons in the room could hear again, the couple decided to make their announcement before something else insane happened.

"We're getting married," Sesshomaru said rather unceremoniously. He was rather annoyed by now and just wanted to get it out in the open.

"And people swear he's like me," Sesshomaru's mother remarked. She was not the parent that was married to a human after all.

"Just don't screw it up," Inuyasha said to his brother with a good-natured grin on his face.

"Here, here," his father concurred. Sesshomaru did not find that very funny, but everyone did drink to the news and probably to Inuyasha's statement.

----(New day)

Sesshomaru and Kikyo were married in the summer. By that time, Rin and Kaede were off of punishment. They had brought home fantastic grades by the end of school and their summer was cleared for non-stop skating action. They were incredibly happy about that, planning to meet up with their friends the next spare moment that they had.

Abi was still with Midoriko. She had been cut off from everything that she had back when she lived with her mother, but she did not care. She had Midoriko and that was enough for her. She had not heard from her mother since the party and supposed that was just the way things were going to have to be until her mother got over her prejudice toward humans. She got her own apartment in the city and Midoriko found her a job at a local law firm. It felt good to be independent; she hated to think that Sesshomaru might be on to something with the way he worked his life out.

The wedding ceremony was not big; Sesshomaru and Kikyo had the same people from the engagement announcement at the wedding and no more than that. It also went off without nothing annoying happening, which surprised Sesshomaru because he swore that anytime Inuyasha was around something irksome was bound to happen. But, everything went off without a hitch. It was like magic. Well, it would be magic for him when they got to the honeymoon. They were going to be gone the whole summer on a trip around the world; Kikyo knew what he had planned for that trip since he did not hold the information in around her.

"We should get going. Don't want to miss our flight," Sesshomaru said to Kikyo with a bit of a smile.

"Of course not. It's the only place I'm going to get any sleep," she remarked with a small smile of her own.

"It is," he concurred and the newlyweds left for their honeymoon. Everyone hoped that everything worked out for the couple and they all took time to tell both Sesshomaru and Kikyo not screw anything up. Sesshomaru and Kikyo both silently vowed to try their best to make their marriage work.

--------------

The end.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.